Greg Schiano has spent the past 11 years as the head football coach at Rutgers, but his collegiate coaching career was launched at Penn State. Schiano was a graduate assistant there in 1990, and from 1991-96 he served as defensive backs coach under defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, who was arrested Saturday on 40 counts of sexually abusing children.

Joe Paterno, the legendary Penn State coach who also served as Schiano's boss, announced today he will be leaving the program after 46 seasons and a record 409 wins amid fallout from the sex abuse scandal. The following is a transcript of Schiano's comments today about Penn State from his meeting with reporters.

Thoughts on Joe Paterno announcing his retirement:

Schiano: Joe was, has been a ton, everything to me. He gave me a chance. I was a 25-year-old kid, and he gave me a chance, hired me as a full-time coach at one of the top programs in the country. He certainly gave my career a jumpstart to say the least, and I learned a ton working under him for six years and he's been a mentor of mine. He and Sue and the whole Paterno family have been great to Christy, myself and our family. I know eventually it's going to happen. It's just very, very hard under these circumstances. A lot of hard things. And as I said Monday, I don't think you need a whole lot of people talking about everything that's going on out there. I know it's a very keen subject right now, but I just feel better staying on our (game). I'll be rooting for coach Paterno. Hopefully he has a great end to these next couple of weeks. I don't know if he has two games left and then a bowl — or three games. The whole thing is sad.

Have you reached out to Joe Paterno?

Schiano: I have not. Again, in these situations, you don't need one more phone call. He knows I care about him. He and Sue know I care about them.

Schiano: Yeah, it's sad. The whole thing is sad, though. The whole thing that's going on out there is sad. To start drawing lines on that, and this, is just ... it's really bad.

What about rumors of you being a possible replacement to Joe Paterno at Penn State?

Schiano: I don't even get into it. I really don't. We've got a lot of work to do here. We're going to build a championship program here. That hasn't changed, contrary to some beliefs. Trust me, we will be a championship program here — maybe sooner than you think.

You worked for six years under Jerry Sandusky. Did you have any inkling of what was going on?

Schiano: Because of the situation being what it is, I'm not even going to get into it. I'm so far removed. Again, you don't need people making commentaries on things like this. It's just a sad thing.

Are you emotional about this, being as close to Joe Paterno as you are?

I love coach Paterno so am I emotional, yeah — people you love and care about, this is a hard thing for him, I'm sure. I know it is. So it hurts me when someone you love hurts. Other than that I have a job to do. I know he'd want me to do nothing else but take care of my team. Joe's not a big sentimental guy — he is but he isn't. Do your job, kid. That's what he'd say.